High unemployment, poor access to basic necessities such as food, shelter, and medicine, and rising obesity rates continue to plague many of America's Southern states, according to the latest Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

The Index looks at six categories: basic access, life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, healthy behaviors, and physical health (we've highlighted a few in the following slides).

In general, state-level scores remained consistent with the past five years of data. Western and Midwestern states ranked highest on the wellbeing index, with Hawaii topping the list, and Southern states ranked near the bottom.